MEMOIR OF MRS. MARY JELLY.

certainly were surprised at the pleasing alteration for the better: but it was not of long continuance, and she again declined, snd declined fast.

I saw her many times during this affliction, and was pleased to witness the sincerity of her piety, and her increase of confidence in God; though not completely freed from doubts: at the same time I was pained to observe the increase of her complaint, and the approach of her death.

I had an interview with her about three weeks before she died, and was surprised to see how she had altered for the worse. She manifested some timidity, yet did not fear that the Lord would take her to himself, as she loved him, and was ready to do any thing to please him. After this time, the friends who visited her communicated to me the pleasing intelligence, that all her fears were removed, and that the Lord so graciously manifested himself to her soul, that she expressed her confidence in his favour, and rejoiced in hope of his, glory, and was waiting with patient submission to his will, for her important change.

I was favoured with my last sight of her on the day on which she died, and was with her till within about ten minutes of the time of her departure. Dying work was evidently hard work; and her friends and myself were much affected to hear the rattling harbinger of death; to see the uncommandable eye; to observe the swollen and inactive body, and one useless hand. She could not speak to me; but there was every appearance of her being sensible; and she frequently raised her other hand, as we supposed, to be expressive of the approbation of what was said, and seemed happy to hear me encourage her to look to Jesus, and tell of the glories to which she was so rapidly approaching. Having talked to her for some time, and encouraged her to trust in God; I prayed with her, while her friends surrounded her bed. She appeared still sensible and composed. I then left her, not apprehending that the end was quite so near; and in about ten minutes a messenger came to inform me, she had breathed her last, and that she was favoured with an easy departure. Thus died one of "the excellent of the earth," Sept. 25, 1819. An address was afterwards delivered on the mournful occasion to a large and attentive congregation in the Methodist chapel, from the following passage, "I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them," Rev. xiv. 13.

VOL. XLIV. JANUARY, 1821.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Extracts from "Mr. John Barrow's Travels in Southern Africa," a work referred to by our worthy and excellent missionary, Mr. B. Shaw, in his Letter inserted in the July Magazine, page 552, for the year 1819.

"At the head of this little valley we were to take leave of every human habitation for at least sixteen days, the time required to cross over the Great Kanoo, or arid desert, that lay between us and the distant district of Graaf Reynett. It therefore became necessary to supply ourselves with a stock of provisions, as nothing whatsoever is to be had on the desert except now and then an antelope. To those travellers who are furnished with a good waggon and a tent, the want of habitations is no great loss; for few of them behind the first range of mountains, have any sort of convenience, comfort, or even cleanliness. Among the planters of Africa, it is true, there are some who live in a decent manner, particularly the cnltivators of the grape. Many of these are the descendants of the French families who, a little more than a century ago, found an asylum at the Cape of Good Hope, from the religious persecutions which drove them from their own country. But a true Dutch peasant, or boor, as he styles himself, has not the smallest idea of what an English farmer means by the word comfort. Placed in a country where not only the necessaries, but almost every luxury of life might, by industry, be procured, he has the enjoyment of none of them. Though he has cattle in abundance, he makes very little use of milk or butter. In the midst of a soil and climate most favourable for the cultivation of the vine, he drinks no wine. He makes use of few or no vegetables or roots. Three times a day his table is loaded with masses of mutton, swimming in the grease of the sheep's tail. His house is either open to the roof, or covered only with rough poles and turf, affording favourable shelter for scorpions and spiders, and the earthy floors are covered with dust and dirt, and swarm with insects, particularly with a species of the termes, which, though not so destructive as some other of this genus, is, nevertheless, a very troublesome and disagreeable animal. His apartments, if he happen to have more than one, which is not always the case among the grazing farmers, are nearly destitute of furniture. A great chest that contains all his movables, and two smaller ones that are fitted to his waggon, are the most striking articles. The bottom of his chairs consists of thongs cut from a bullock's hide. The windows are without glass; or if there should happen to be any remains of this article, it is so patched and daubed as nearly to exclude the light it was intended to admit.

"The boor, notwithstanding, has his enjoyments; he is absolute master of a domain of several miles in extent; and he lords it over a few miserable slaves or hottentots without control. His pipe scarcely ever quits his mouth, from the moment he rises till he retires to rest, except to give him time to swallow his sopie, or a glass of strong ardent spirit, or to eat his meals, and to take his nap after dinner. Unwilling

to work, and unable to think; with a mind disengaged from every sort of care and reflection, indulging to excess in the gratification of every sensual appetite, the African peasant grows to an unwieldly size, and is carried off the stage of life by the first inflammatory disease that attacks him.

"How different is the lot of the labouring poor in England, who, for six days in the week, are doomed to toil for twelve hours in every day, in order to gain a morsel of bread for their family, and the luxury of a little animal food for the seventh day!

"The cultivators of the ground, who inhabit the nearer districts to the town, though something better than the breeders of cattle, live but in a very uncomfortable manner in the midst of profusion. They have little or no society with each other, and every one seems to live solely for himself. Though removed from each other to the distance of several miles, and enjoying the benefit of many thousand acres of land under the rate of a farthing an acre, it is a singular fact, that scarcely any two neighbours are found to be on good terms with each other, but are embroiled perpetually in quarrels and disputes about the extent of their farms, or the privilege of a spring or watercourse. One great cause of their endless disputes, is the absurd manner of estimating distance by time. The quantity of land in a government farm, according to the established custom of the colony, must be one hour's walk across it. It one farmer is supposed to have put down his baaken, or stake, or land-mark, a little too near to that of his neighbour, the feldwagt-meester, or peace-officer of the division, is called in, by the latter, to pace the distance, for which he gets three dollars. If the Feidwagt-meester should happen to regulate his pace to the satisfaction of both parties, the affair is settled; but as this is not always the case, the next step is for the discontented party to apply for a commission, consisting of the Landrost, two members of the Council, the secretary of the district, and a messenger. These gentlemen share fifteen dollars a day as long as they are out upon the commission, to determine how far a man ought to walk in an hour.

"The dangerous and difficult roads in every part of the colony, but particularly by the kloefs, or passes of the mountains, and the still more perilous fords of the rivers, shew how very little sense is entertained by the peasantry, of publick benefits or publick conveniences. Each gets over a difficulty as well as he can, and no more is thought about it till it again occurs. An instance appeared of this in crossing the Breede river, opposite to Brandt valley, which is done by means of a small flat-bottomed tub, about six feet by three. In this machine foot passengers hawl themselves over by a rope fixed to two posts, one on each side of the river. When a horse is to cross, the saddle is taken off, the rider gets into the tub, and drags the animal after him. But when a waggon is to be transported, it must first be unladen, and the baggage carried over in the vessel: the carriage is then made fast by one end to this floating machine, and the other end is buoyed up by a cask, and in this manner it is dragged over. Thus is half a day sonsumed in passing a small river of thirty or forty yards at the most in width, when a few planks, properly put together, would enable them

to carry over any sort of carriage, cattle, or horses, with safety and convenience, in five minutes.

"The women of the African peasantry pass a life of the most listless inactivity. The mistress of the family, with her coffee-pot constantly boiling before her on a small table, seems fixed to her chair like a piece of furniture. This good lady, born in the wilds of Africa, and educated among slaves and hottentots, has little idea of what, in a state of society, constitutes female delicacy. She makes no scruple of having her legs and feet washed in warm water before strangers. Most of them go constantly without stockings and shoes, even when the thermometer is down to the freezing point. The young girls sit with their hands before them as listless as their mothers. Most of them, in the distant districts, can neither write nor read, so that they have no mental resources whatever. Their paucity of ideas prevents time from hanging heavily on their hands. The history of a day is that of their whole lives. They hear or speak nothing but that sucha-one is going to the city, or to church, or to be married, or that the Bosjemans have stolen the cattle of such-a-one, or the locusts eaten their corn. The young people have no meetings at fixed periods, as in most country places, for mirth and recreation. No fairs, no music, nor amusement of any sort. To the cold phlegmatic temper and inactive way of life, may, perhaps, be owing the prolific tendency of all the African peasantry. Six or seven children in a family are considered as very few; from a dozen to twenty are not uncommon; and most of them marry very young, so that the population of the colony is rapidly increasing. Several, however, of the children die in their infancy, from swellings in the throat, and from eruptions of the same kind they are subject to at the Cape. Very few instances of longevity occur. The manner of life they lead, is, perhaps, less favourable for a prolonged existence than the nature of the climate.

"The diseases of which they generally die in the country are bilious and putrid fevers and dropsies. The men are, in general, much above the middle size, very tall and stout, but ill made, loosely put together, awkward, and inactive. Very few have those open countenances that, among the peasantry of many parts of Europe, speak their simplicity and innocence. The descendants of French families are now so intermarried with the original settlers, that no distinction, except the names, remains. And it is a remarkable fact, that not a word of the French language is spoken or understood by any of the peasantry, though there are many still living whose parents were both of that nation. Neither is there a French book to be seen in their houses. It would seem as if these persecuted refugees had studied to conceal from their children their unfortunate history, and their country's disgraceful conduct.

"The means of education, it is true, must be very difficult to be had among a people so widely scattered over a vast extent of country as the peasantry are in the colony of the Cape. Some have a person in the house whom they call the schoolmaster. This is generally a man who had served out his time in the ranks. His employment in this new situation, is not only to instruct the children to read and write, to sing psalms, and get by heart a few occasional prayers, but

he must also make himself serviceable in other respects. At one place that we passed, the poor schoolmaster was driving the plough, whilst a hottentot had the more honourable part of holding and directing it, The children of those who either cannot obtain, or afford to employ, such a person, can neither write nor read; and the whole of their edu cation consisis in learning so shoot well, to crack and use with dexterity an enormous whip, and to drive a waggon drawn by bullocks.

"A book of any kind is rarely seen in any of the farmers' houses, except the Bible, and William Sluiter's Gesangen, or songs out of the Bible done into verse by the Sternhold and Hopkins of Holland.

"They affect to be very religious, and carry, at least, the devotion of religion fully as far as the most zealous bigots. They never sit down to table without a long grace before meat, pronounced with an audible voice by the youngest of the family; and every morning before day-light one of William Sluiter's Gesangan is drawled out in full chorus by an assemblage of the whole family. In their attendance at church they are scrupulously exact, though the performance of this duty costs many of them a journey of several days. Those who live at the distance of a fortnight or three weeks journey from the nearest church, generally go with their families once a year.

"Rude and uncultivated as are their minds, there is one virtue in which they eminently excel-hospitality to strangers. A countryman, a foreigner, a relation, a friend, are all equally welcome to whatso ever the house can afford. A Dutch farmer never passes a house on the road without alighting, except indeed his neighbour's, with whom it is ten to one he is at variance. It is not enough to inquire after the health of the family in passing: even on the road, if two peasants should meet, they instantly dismount to shake hands, whether strangers or friends. When a traveller arrives at an habitation, he alights from his horse, enters the house, shakes hands with the men, kisses the women, and sits down without farther ceremony. When the table is served, he takes his place among the family without waiting for an invitation. This is never given, on the supposition that a traveller in a country so thinly inhabited must always have an appetite for something. Accordingly, "What will you make use of?" is generally the first question. If there be a bed in the house, it is given to the stranger; if none, which is frequently the case among the graziers of the district of Graaff Reynet, he must take his chance for a form or bench, or a heap of sheep skins, among the rest of the family. In the morning, after a solid breakfast, he takes his sopie, or glass of brandy, orders his slave hottentot to saddle the horses, shakes hands with the men, and kisses the women; he wishes them health, and they wish him a good journey. In this manner a traveller might pass through the whole country.

"If the economy of the African farmer's house be ill managed, that of his land is equally bad. The graziers, indeed, in many places, are not at the trouble of sowing any grain, but exchange with others their cattle for as much as may be necessary for the family's consumption. But even those who have corn-farms near the Cape, seem to have no kind of management. They turn over a piece of ground with a huge mis-shapen plough that requires eight or ten